WHAT IS CELEBRATING THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF RANGELANDS AND PASTORALISTS 2026 MADRID INTERNATIONAL MEETING?

From the Madrid Institute for Rural, Agricultural and Food Research and Development (IMIDRA), CIHEAM Zaragoza, Fundación Trashumancia y Naturaleza, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists, in collaboration with the Entretantos Foundation and the Biodiversity Foundation (MITECO), we present the initiative to organize an international meeting in Madrid in the framework of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP). This meeting aims to strengthen international cooperation and promote the recognition of transhumance as a culturally, economically and environmentally sustainable practice in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The nomination of transhumance as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2019 — expanded in 2023 with Spain's incorporation into the international application— represented a major milestone in the recognition and international promotion of this ancestral practice. In this context, the Community of Madrid hosted a meeting of focal points, with IMIDRA as the host entity for the meeting held on the 19th of October 2024.

During this meeting, the initiative arose to organize an international event within the framework of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, focused on digitization and generational renewal in transhumant livestock farming. This event allows coordinating efforts at national and international levels, involving all key actors.

IMIDRA, CIHEAM Zaragoza, the Trashumancia y Naturaleza Association, FAO and the Global Alliance for Rangelands and Pastoralists, together with the Entretantos Foundation and the Biodiversity Foundation, reaffirm their commitment to the promotion and conservation of transhumance as a model of sustainability and cultural heritage. The Community of Madrid, with its 4,104 kilometers of livestock trails, plays a strategic role in shaping the landscape and promoting transhumance, being a confluence point for several Spanish livestock trails.